내 잘못이 아닌 것 때문에 (through no fault of my own)

내 잘못이 아닌 것 때문에 (through no fault of my own) 나는 불편 (inconvenience)을 겪고 있다; 신속하게 (expediently) 처리해/다루어주면 (address) 공론화/여론화 (go public with ~) 하지 않겠다; 컴퓨터 고장/문제 (glitch); 홀대 (shortchange)

 To Whom It May Concern:

​As your customer, I feel unnecessarily inconvenienced and even short changed by your system, which apparently lacks coordination among your gas stations so that information about uncredited ESSO points differs from station to station. In London, Ontario, on Wednesday, August 27, 2014, a computer glitch left an ESSO gas station unable to accept other ways of payment than cash and unable to credit ESSO points to my account. While giving me a receipt with her hand-written sentence of “He will get his points for this transaction” (please see below for details), the cashier at the London ESSO gas station said that any ESSO gas station would let these uncredited ESSO points be credited to my account.

 

무식한 (all thumbs)

무식한 (all thumbs) [음악에 관한한 (when it comes to + N) 완전 무식한 (all thumbs) 나는 지휘자, 연주자 사진을 보며 ‘완전 몰입’ (complete absorption)을 좌우명 (motto)로 삼았다]; 반복 강조 (mantra); ~으로 ~을 잊다 (drown ~ in ~); 집착 (attachment); 무료로 해주다 (charge sb nothing for ~)

While reading Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, 37 years ago as a freshman in Korea, I was so entranced by the phrase of ‘complete absorption’ that I phrased  my motto: ‘complete absorption in my work.’ In what predisposed me toward the motto, I was fascinated with a professor’s mantra: “Supreme happiness lies in being crazy about something.”

부화뇌동 (get carried away)

부화뇌동 (get carried away) [거침없이 (have no qualms about ~) 자기네 나라 나쁘게 말할 때 (project ~ in unflattering light) (speak ill of ~) 부화뇌동해서 같이 나쁘게 말하지 말라]; 기분 나빠 하다 (feel offended); 벌컥 화내다 (lose one’s temper); 남을 따라 하다 (follow suit)

Next week I meet with new students. Teachers at a publicly-funded school in Canada, particularly GTA (Greater Toronto Area), supposedly are well-prepared to work with students from around the world.

체념하다 (be resigned to + N/~ing)

체념하다 (be resigned to + N/~ing) [내가 얼마나 많이 NYT에 중독된 (addicted to ~) 지 잘 아는 큰 딸은 어떠한 상황에서도 (under no circumstances) 내가 NYT 못 읽는 거북한 하루를 겪겠다고 체념하는 것을 원하지 않았다]; 무사히 도착 (arrive in one piece); 보답 (return)

My elder daughter returned my help in a way that surprised me. Yesterday she moved to London, Ontario, 200 km away from Toronto, for Teachers’ College Education. With her bed and wooden frame tightly tied to the roof top of our 2006 Hyundai Elantra, I drove. Tying something heavy and big to the car’s roof top is familiar to me: When I go kayaking, I tie my kayak to the roof top.

꼴불견 (eyesore)

꼴불견 (eyesore) [머리는 스님들 머리를 방불케 (border on ~) 할 정도로 삭발했고, 검은 교복을 걸친 (dressed in ~) 나의 모습은 여대 교정 안에 너무도 안 어울리는 (out of place) 모습이어서 내가 여대 교정 안에 있었다면 나의 모습은 여대 교정 안에서 꼴불견이었을 것이다]; 금남지역 (off-limits to men)

Taking a break from studies at her Korean university, a female student is in a two-year college diploma program here in Canada. Her Korean university is only for female students. For three years I had passed the university by on my way to and from my high school.

방에 콕 박혀 (cloister oneself to a room)

방에 콕 박혀 (cloister oneself to a room) [중국계 의사들은 아주 어릴 때부터 시험공부에 정신통일 (undivided attention to ~) 하려면 골방에 처박혀있는 것이 아주 중요하다 (crucial for ~) 고 믿고 살아와서 (weaned on the notion of ~) 남과 토론하는 것은 쓸데없는 것으로 여겼다 (have no use for discussion)]

What becomes of cloistering yourself to your room might run counter to what youexpect of studying abroad. In this regard, a Korean-Canadian medical doctor’s life story rings in my ears. Before she came to Canada almost 25 years ago, she had been three years into practicing medicine as a specialist in Korea. As Canada has not recognized Korean medical school-educated doctors’ licenses, she had to take a lot of different tests and undergo various interview sessions on the way to her Canadian license.

계산하다 (check ~out)

계산하다 (check ~out) [우리 딸들을 보자 (at the sight of ~) 기쁘셔서 과자를 줘야겠다는 것만 생각하신 나머지 (be preoccupied with ~) 그 과자를 계산대에서 계산을 한 것인지 아직 안한 것인지 몰랐다]; 쯤 (or so); ~ 하려하다 (be about to-inf.); 즉시 ~ 하다 (lose/waste no time in ~ing)

Like today, a sunny weekend reminds me of one of the funniest episodes in my family, which involved a really warm-hearted teacher. She was my wife’s colleague teaching Chemistry at a Korean girls’ high school. Twenty-two or so years ago on a sunny weekend, my wife, my two daughters and I picked up an empty cart and werejust about to shop at a department store when we came across her in an aisle, with her cart full of items.

정에 약하다 (have a weakness for affection)

정에 약하다 (have a weakness for affection) ( 큰 형님은 정에 참 약하셨다); 돌아가시다 (pass away); 12살 차이 (12 years apart); 체벌 (corporal punishment = spanking) 주다 (mete out); 눈물 글썽글썽 (eyes well up); 주저없이 (unreservedly); 보답 (return)

Years ago, being my oldest sibling, my eldest brother passed away. He and I (the second youngest sibling) were 12 years apart. He had a weakness for affection.

애틋한 정을 갖다 (have a soft spot for ~)

애틋한 정을 갖다 (have a soft spot for ~) [딸들로부터 원성을 듣지만 (to the chagrin of ~), 나는 무설탕 (sugar-free) 보리건빵에 애틋한 정을 가지고 있다]; ~ 많이 좋아 하지 않다 (be not much of a + 명사); 취급하다 (carry); 향수를 불러 일으키다 (evoke nostalgia); 거슬러 올라가다 (date back to ~)

Basically I am not much of a cookie lover. This is born of a combination of the two: poverty in childhood and the health-conscious adulthood habit of eschewing sugar. However, when it comes to snacks, I have a soft spot for sugar-free gunppang. To the chagrin of my two daughters, here in Canada I sometimes buy barley gunppang from a Korean store, which carries some items evoking nostalgia. My association with gunppang dates back to my 1980-1982 military service in the northernmost zone. At that time there almost everything seemed to be lacking; and while the only available snack for the most part, gunppang often substituted for regular meals.

나 자신도 모르게 (unnoticed to myself)

나 자신도 모르게 (unnoticed to myself) 현대 자동차 수리 센터에서 내가 나의 모국 한국에 온 것 같은 (as if ~) 느낌을 가졌음에 틀림없다. (must + have + p.p.); 곰곰이 생각해보니 (on reflection); 안식년 (sabbatical); 영어 잘 배울 기회 허비 (squander); 주인의식 (a sense of ownership); 유난히 (markedly)

A sense of ownership seems to make a big difference in our life. A couple of hours ago I was at a Hyundai service center to buy paint, which was needed for undoing thescratches our 2006 Elantra sustained. While talking with English-speaking staff members there, I found myself feeling markedly at home. Unnoticed to myself, on reflection, I must have felt as if I had been in my home country, with the English-speaking staff members on the payroll of the Korean automaker.